German Conservative Party

The German Conservative Party (DKP) was a conservative political party in the German Empire which existed from 7 June 1876 to 9 November 1918. It was founded to support the monarchy and to oppose economic liberalism, democratization, the introduction of electoral reform in Prussia, and parliamentary government. The party was predominantly Protestant, and it represented the interests of the German nobility, the Junker landowners east of the Elbe, rural elites, and adherent Protestants, and, while it was initially opposed to the unification of Germany and to Kulturkampf, it later became supportive of Otto von Bismarck's interventionist and protectionist policies. It became the main support base for Bismarck and successive Chancellors down to 1918, and, in the last elections held in imperial Germany (1912), the DKP placed in fifth with 9.2% of the popular vote and 60 seats. After the war, it was succeeded by the German Democratic Party.